The online travel booking industry was one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with some apps reporting more than 70 percent less traffic and bookings than 2019.
It took two years for most online travel agencies, hotels, and airlines to see a return to form, although for some the levels of revenue and occupancy are still below 2019 figures.
Booking Holdings and Expedia Group are the two juggernauts of the online travel booking industry, and account for about 60 percent of all travel bookings in Europe and the United States. Airbnb has slotted into the third spot with its seven million short-term rentals, carving out a new market that both Booking and Expedia are trying to compete in.
One of the ways Booking and Expedia have managed to maintain their market share is through the acquisition of competitor websites and apps. Booking owns Priceline.com, KAYAK, and Agoda, while Expedia Group has Orbitz, Travelocity, and Vrbo in its portfolio.
Another way the duopoly has continued is through an expansion to services offered. Both Booking and Expedia have branched out into flights, car rental, experiences, taxis, and cruises. The model is similar across both platforms, with the OTA receiving a small commission for each booking.
The aim is to be a one-stop destination for a holiday, similar to how a travel agency pre-internet would organise the flight, transport, hotel, and events in a packaged holiday.
Airbnb has started this augmentation as well, with the introduction of Experiences in 2016. It also started to promote long-term stays in 2020, in response to the pandemic halting short-term travel. Transport and co-working services may be next on its list.
Even though Booking, Expedia and Airbnb are the three main platforms, there are others, such as Hopper, TripAdvisor and Trip.com.
We have collected data and statistics on the online travel booking market. Read on below to find out more. If you want even more insights, check out our Travel App report.
Key Travel App Statistics
- The travel app market generated $1.1 trillion in revenue last year, a 10% increase on the previous year
- Booking generated the most revenue out of all online travel agencies in 2024
- Over 900 million people used a travel app in 2024
- Expedia holds a slight lead in the US market, at 20.3% market share
- Airbnb was the most downloaded travel app in 2024, with 69 million downloads
Travel App Report 2025
Want to learn more about the travel app industry? Our Travel App report covers financials, market share, users, installs, demographics and benchmarks.
- Charts: 80
- Data Points: 1038
- Apps covered: 16
Top Travel Apps
| Title 1 | Title 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/airbnb-statistics/ | Airbnb | Opening up second homes and spare rooms to tourists has changed the travel industry, and Airbnb has been at the front of this new type of short-term lodging. |
| https://www.booking.com/apps.en-gb.html | Booking | The largest online travel agency by booking volume and revenue, responsible for 25 percent of all hotel bookings worldwide |
| https://www.expedia.co.uk/travel-mobile-app | Expedia | The other major online travel agency, which alongside Expedia operates the Orbitz, trivago, and Vrbo brands |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/hopper-statistics/ | Hopper | A newer flight and hotel booking app, Hopper was the most downloaded OTA in the US in 2021 |
| https://www.vrbo.com/mobile/ | Vrbo | Expedia’s Airbnb competitor, which was originally launched 13 years before Airbnb as a website to book a Ski condo in Colorado |
| https://uk.hotels.com/page/app/ | Hotels.com | Another of Expedia’s subsidiaries, Hotels.com a large directory of hotels, deals, and holiday lets |
| https://www.trivago.co.uk/app | Trivago | A German OTA app that may be most well remembered for its “Hotel? Trivago” adverts |
| https://www.skyscanner.net/mobile.html | Skyscanner | Considered an authority website when it comes to searching flight prices and trying to find the best deals |
| https://www.kayak.co.uk/mobile | KAYAK | One of Booking Holdings subsidiaries, which operates in a very similar way to Booking as a one-stop shop for all things travel |
| https://www.priceline.com/partner/mobile-app?vrid=c4bdde506cdb69fe4710ec47c3adab1a | Priceline | Another Booking subsidiary, which was the name of the holding company before the 2018 change to Booking Holdings |
| https://www.tripadvisor.com/app | TripAdvisor | Primarily known for restaurant and hotel reviews, but also provides booking services |
Travel App Market Landscape
The travel app market has a huge variety of apps for every step of the journey, making travel a stress-free experience. At the core, there are several marketplace apps that combine a lot of services, with apps specifically dedicated to hotels, flights, events and transport branching off from that. You can download this map as a PDF, which includes a landscape version.
Travel App Revenue
The travel app industry generated over $1 trillion revenue, with hotels and accommodation responsible for the majority of that.
